Spence

I’ve read through it, but what I see is kind of a mess. The reason for the D&D archetypes — your “four core” and their subclasses — is because they’re drawn from history, or the story gestalt, or the collective subconscious, and then sufficiently romanticized to have a look and feel, then mechanically built to reinforce that. HERO, of course, unless you build those class packages everyone can kind of do their own thing within the boundaries of the campaign. First, campaign limits, good idea. ALWAYS a good idea. But.
 
Your idea, on the whole, isn’t resonating with me. I’m not seeing a proper build/link/benefit chain. To Hugh’s point, these benefits are comparatively minor in the grander scheme of things, and moreover, they are highly proscriptive and in some cases vague. What constitutes a worthy enemy? Is it always one? Can 20 lesser dudes constitute a worthy foe? To your ‘pure’ concept, if we go back to the literature, the common point of purity, from a story telling perspective, is to tarnish it and then gain something less abstract and more concrete. There are examples of characters who start pure and that’s their “thing,” but they are few, far between, and not nearly as memorable as, say, The Red Cross Knight, or the Iliad, etc. ANYWAY. My literature major aside.
 
Now that I’ve said that, I’m left to my primary issue: what I see here doesn’t work for me; I would love to give you what you’re asking for, but I’m not seeing a fully fleshed out idea. So you want to go off from the standard subclasses; Fighter > Paladin/Ranger, Rogue > Assassin/Burglar, etc. Before you can do that, you have to define where these things fit in your world, and why they fit and give them more “teeth” than what you’ve got here. I don’t mean to be a downer or harsh, but it’s kind of like a writer’s circle; if you’re looking for feedback, then my feedback is “this needs a lot of work before I can comment further.”

It’s why I outlawed wish. Just didn’t exist in my games. 
 
I get where you’re coming from @Scott Ruggels, however I actively side with Mallet and Hugh on this issue; to me your argument says “we are all equal and must all be playing by the same rules which I should have complete and total insight to.” That may not be what you’re saying, but that’s what I keep pulling out as the underpinning “core” of your objection. I can’t have infinite summoned MOBs, neither can they.
 
This next bit is said without snark, and I want to say that because a) I’m easy to misinterpret and b) people get sensitive and I’m trying to be mindful of that. There are a ton of completely legal ways to get “Summon a Lich-Load of Skeletons,” in addition to the various mentions people gave. Some general things:
 
NCM applies to players, not monsters, meaning, a monster has as many CP as it needs to satisfy its special effect(s). So my troll needs 50 STR because it’s a troll? Cool. That’s already outside of what a player can have (by my own post) because I can account for game balance as a GM for what I build, but I cannot anticipate every permutation of what a PC will come up with. 
 
Summon Skeletons, Trigger; when this tomb is disturbed, and the password is not uttered (PS: there’s no need to ever tell anyone there’s a password, it could just as easily be “and it ain’t me, guys” THEN, Summon Skeletal Horde and Attack. Is it wonky? Sure it is, but it’s also legal and reasonable, it’s why you’re standing there for a hot minute before t3h h0rd3 descends upon you. What this all comes down to, for me, is those two classic words, “Common and dramatic sense.” I respect the kinds of games you want to play, I just think it’s very limiting to want all games forced into that block. Doctor Doom has way more toys and resources than most heroes, including the Fantastic Four. Shoot, Darkseid has a whole planet, sub dimensions and New Gods vs... the Justice League. Like. Those odds are BAD. Having your foes have more points just means you have to utilize better team work.
 
Maybe I’m off topic at this point? It’s possible. I’m not eating today. And my stomach is slowly licking my medulla oblongata for how much salt may be required before consuming it.

I have something to add here.
 
That answer was freakin’ epic. *slow clap* @mallet Bloody good show.
 
Get it? Vampire? Bloody? Because they drink blood? Amirite? Guys?
 
Where are you going?
 
Hey wait up!!
 
Moving on!
 
If I’m understanding the rule right, upon summon you get assignable tasks based on EGO, your Necromancer can purchase EGO, Only to Assign Tasks to Summoned Creatures, (-1). Why -1? Because he’s going to use it freaking constantly. As an aside to that aside, I generally don’t allow purchasing of stats over and above beyond 2x the base; so in a world of NCM, where they bought to 20, I’m going to keep the total possible at 40. One thing I learned early in HERO — you must set limits. Because players be like ‘wooooo!’ And you have to be all ‘noooooooo. Seriously, Chris, no, you cannot do that. Because it’ll break the game, that’s why. No, we’re not going to test it. Dude, seriously...”
 
(actual conversation, actually held multiple times).
(with the same freakin’ guy).

Look! Over at Explain This!! It's two nerds, it's a podcast, it's Supergirl!!  https://explainthis.podbean.com/  

But I want to see the suit automatically deploy the step stool every time there is a shot with Cruise and woman in the same pic.

VPP by their very nature are not new GM/player friendly items.

Are you pondering what I'm pondering?

I agree with Chris to an extent. I always felt that the best edition was 4e with a few of 5e's new ideas sprinkled in. But using 5e or 6e as the foundation is not my preference.
 
One huge advantage of 4e, in my view, is that it doesn't lure you into thinking you have to search the rulebook for the "official" answer to every tiny piece of minutiae that comes up in play (or during character creation). Quite a bit is left up to you and your players to reasonably extrapolate from what's given. Once you get the hang of that, you'll be using the system as a general framework for playing anything you can think of, and you won't find yourself consulting the rulebook very often. The same can't really be said, IMO, of 5e or 6e, as those editions attempt to encode every little possible contingency into the main rulebook, filling every margin with stuff you will feel compelled to use and adhere to.

Looks like DC movies are improving...

This!
 
This is where the long term epic Champs game came from.  The archenemy was never pre-planned, they developed from one of the recurring villains in the game. 
 
Plus, law enforcement are glad to see the heroes arrive.
 
When I think superHEROES, this is what comes to mind.

It's easy to get lost in the special effects of a power and try to buy what the power is doing instead of buying the end result you want.  In this cast I think you are getting stuck on the character 'changing' things so you want to buy a transform.  That does make a certain sense, but transform isn't meant to work that way.  It's more about the change being whats important (like a enemy into a frog) and not as a way to make yourself guns when you need them.
 
In Hero System, you need to buy what you can do, not how you do it.  If you want a wall, you buy the barrier power.  If you want to shoot someone you buy blast.  (If you want guns to pop up "over there" and shoot your enemies you buy blast with the Indirect advantage).
 
Once you have a list of what you want to be able to do, you either buy all the powers or your put them into a power framework.  If the character can do "anything" but really only does 4-8 things on the regular you want a multipower.

If they really can do anything they can imagine, you buy a variable power pool big enough to buy all the powers they are thinking of.  This will get expensive, and may not be a good move for a new player.  (Nite Owl or Silk Spectre are much easier characters to play than Dr. Manhatten.  How do you fit "build a city on Mars" into a Variable Power Pool?  There are several ways actually, but if you all stop the game to spend 45min figuring it out it's not  a fun power)

Thanks
 
I'm just surprised with all the buzz and hoopla about podcasts, just how little there is out there.  I just tried listening to a podcast put out by a gaming company, and no kidding. After an initial couple minutes of disjointed babble they started discussing cauliflower recipes.  WTF?
 
Anyway, I'm still looking for a game related podcast and I appreciate the response.

I rarely have the patience to sit through podcasts, but I know about Save or Die, which ended a few years ago. It focused on old-school D&D, so the Original D&D board I frequent had a spot for it.
 
Here are the Archives on the OD&D forum.
 
I know you wanted to focus on non-D&D stuff, but I haven't come across them.

I would say that you don't.  Saving Throws were always one of the stupidest mechanics in D&D in my mind.  The lethal poison either kills you instantly or has absolutely no effect?  Certainly they could have done better than that.  I would just stat out some poisons and petrification effects at different power levels and use that.  There are a number of examples in the rule books that have already be written up.
 
Okay, if you want to keep Saving Throws for simplicity of play or just nostalgic feel, build those powers with the Limitation - No Effect if Character makes a CON roll, (or reduced effect if you don't want it to be all-or-nothing).  More lethal effects could have a penalty to the CON roll, less lethal ones might be at a bonus (with slightly different limitation levels).

But I want to see the suit automatically deploy the step stool every time there is a shot with Cruise and woman in the same pic.

But I want to see the suit automatically deploy the step stool every time there is a shot with Cruise and woman in the same pic.

Definitely on the list - we already have a Kirby one recorded but not yet released, and Ditko will get one soon. I'm recording parts 3 and 4 of Marvel's history tomorrow, so the whole bullpen era will get a bit of time in 3 (it took 2 full eps just to get to Fantastic Four #1!) dw 

But I want to see the suit automatically deploy the step stool every time there is a shot with Cruise and woman in the same pic.

You are exactly right, and that is the point that the entire writers room made to Gene repeatedly.  Even pointing out to him that friction between characters like Spock and McCoy made the original series as great as it was.It was only after he stepped back from the day to day overseeing in later seasons that the writing got better. The series with the most interpersonal interaction, Deep Space Nine was in fact the best in the bunch.
   But the basics of the perfect, moneyless, “more evolved” society were mandates from Gene in the very beginning of TOS.

Great history on Siegel and Shuster.
 
I'd love to hear a similar treatment on Ditko.
 

Yes, converting their 5e characters as we go.  My previous Pathfinder campaign gave me some ideas which I refined during the Pillars of Eternity test run campaign.
 
D&D spells are converted to rough equivalents using a points per level basis.  (Cantrips start at 30pts, 1st level 45 pts, 2nd level 52 pts, 3rd level 60 pts, etc.).
 
D&D Armor converts exactly as is to rPD/rED.  Plate armor is +8 Armor class in D&D and 8 rPD/rED in Fantasy HERO.
 
The players continue to level up their characters using 5e templates/applications.  And I convert the abilities over to HERO equivalents between sessions.
 
So far the only part that has required some GM work is converting spells.  But I had worked out Active Points per D&D spell level in a previous campaign.

OK, seriously how did you pull this off?  Are you "converting" 5e characters?
 

7
They had a good actor IMO. But the character as written was probably the worst implemented concept since TV went to color. 
 
Also my opinion....

Funny you should say that:
 
I was considering a "once we got to the belt and started mining, we found evidence, here and there-- only small hints and suggestions-- that the asteroids were once a world, inhabited by a race that died long before there was life on earth, a race that made technological strides further than our own, but at some point stopped reaching for the stars, and turned all their efforts to war...."
 
Something along those lines. (and yes; it would be some of these discoveries that led to the development of "mech tech" in the campaign universe).
 
Haven't put much thought into the aliens yet, but honestly, the entire campaign could play all the way through without learning anything about them.  The approach taken in the video Thia posted is very much akin to how I pictured the initial encounters going: mysterious, seemingly-invulnerable invaders from beyond....

If you go with Lovecraftian aliens, you get to do Kaiju vs Mecha, and you don't have to worry about scavenged tech changing things. The discovered alien tech could be from the last victims of the "Threat". (You don't say their name, it somehow attracts them).